Community News

Sterling man dies in crash on I-76

A Sterling man died early Wednesday following a collision near Brush involving the car in which he was riding, a semi-truck and a sport utility vehicle, the Colorado State Patrol has reported.

Merrill C. Giddings, 52, was taken to North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley after the 1:15 a.m. crash; he was pronounced dead at 5:16 a.m., Trooper Robert Tate said.

The driver of the car, Gale VanCura, 65, Sterling, was taken to Colorado Plains Medical Center in Fort Morgan. His condition was not available as of early Friday morning.

The driver of the semi, James Musselman, 61, Yomba Linda, Calif., and the driver of the SUV, Robert D. Audette, 20, Duluth, Minn., were not reported hurt.

VanCura was eastbound on I-76 near a railroad overpass a mile east of Brush when his car drifted off the right side of the road, hit a guardrail and went across the road, hitting a bridge rail, Tate said.

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The semi then rear ended the car, and the SUV swerved in an effort to avoid the car but hit it, the trooper added.

The semi stopped on the road shoulder and the car and the SUV in the left lane, Tate said.